Drew Brees and the Saints lost at Seattle in the wild-card round of the 2010-11 NFL playoffs. / Otto Greule Jr, Getty Images

by Howard Balzer, Special for USA TODAY Sports

by Howard Balzer, Special for USA TODAY Sports

For the second time in four seasons, the New Orleans Saints are in the playoffs as an NFC wild-card team, and they again will have to go on the road to face a division winner despite having a better record.

The Saints were 11-5 in the 2010 season and traveled to Seattle, where they lost 41-36 to the 7-9 NFC West champion Seahawks. Saturday, the 11-5 Saints head to Philadelphia to play the NFC East champion Eagles (10-6).

"Sometimes it works out in your favor, and sometimes it doesn't," Saints quarterback Drew Brees said. "It just depends on the records of the teams that year."

The wild-card San Francisco 49ers (12-4) are in the same position, having to play at the NFC North champion Green Bay Packers (8-7-1).

Since realignment in 2002 broke each conference into four divisions, 17 of 48 games have had visiting wild-card teams with better records than their hosts, including two this weekend.

Of the 15 played, the home team has won nine. Of the nine wins, four games had teams with a one-win differential, two with a two-game differential and three in which the wild-card team won four more games during the regular season than the division winner they were playing.

"As players and coaches, you don't control who you play, when you play or where you play," 49ers coach Jim Harbaugh said. "The thing you control is how you play."

Despite frequent discussion over the years, there has not been a strong enough sentiment to change the playoff structure despite the situation occurring more often.

"The emphasis is to reward teams for winning the division," said St.Louis Rams coach Jeff Fisher, longtime co-chair of the NFL's competition committee.

The trend was inevitable, thanks to a regular-season scheduling system of eight games against two other divisions, but only six division games. It's no longer unusual for a division winner to win eight or nine games.

From the inception of the 16-game schedule in 1978 through 2001, there were three divisions in each conference. In those 24 seasons, there were 11 instances when a team won its division with eight or nine wins: nine with 9-7 records, one at 8-7-1 and one at 8-8.

Of those 11 first-round matchups, only twice did a 9-7 division winner play at home. In both cases, the wild-card team they faced was also 9-7.

It has been much different since 2002 with the league's policy of having division winners host a home game in the first round.

This season's Packers are the 10th team since 2002 to win a division with nine or fewer victories. Of the other nine, six had 9-7 records, two were 8-8 and one was 7-9. In only two of those cases, the Seahawks at 9-7 in both 2004 and 2006, did they play a team with the same or worse record in the first round.

"I kind of like the way it is set up right now," Saints coach Sean Payton said. "I think we, like anyone else, just look at the schedule, what are the rules, what does it take to get in and then let's go compete and make sure we give ourselves a chance to do that."

Packers coach Mike McCarthy is among the few who has been on both sides. While they will host the 12-win 49ers this week, Green Bay won 11 games in 2009 and had to travel to NFC West champion Arizona, which had 10 wins. The Cardinals won the game 51-45.

"The format's laid out before the season started; that's why you play your division opponents two times," he said. "I have no problem with the format of the playoffs. I had no problem when we had a better record and went to Arizona."

Also of note is that these situations are occurring more often. From 2002 through 2009, there were eight such matchups and two years (2004 and 2006) without one. There were only two years (2007 and 2008) where there were two.

However, including this year, the last four seasons have produced nine of 16 games with at least two each year and three in 2010. Had the Kansas City Chiefs defeated the San Diego Chargers on Sunday, there would have been a third this season, with the Chiefs (now 11-5) playing at the 11-5 Indianapolis Colts. Of the seven games from 2010 to 2012, the home team won four, showing heightened value in the home playoff game.

Asked about the format and his Eagles hosting a team with more wins, first-year coach Chip Kelly replied, "I don't care. I'm just happy that we're home."

Some think the fairest way is to seed strictly by record.

"It comes up quite often over the years and is always an issue of, 'Why are they going on the road?'" Fisher said.

Fisher might have been saying that in 2003 when his 12-4 Titans traveled to Baltimore to play the 10-6 Ravens. The Titans won 20-17.

"The committee, the league (and owners) feel you have to at least reward teams for winning their division," he said. "That's what you start off the season trying to do is win the division and go from there."